room for a big, fat one? [weep]

Nice tag, welcome to the club ?

How can we help?

Cheers, Baron ? I see you're the inventor of the groundbreaking eat less, move more plan then?

It's the "moving more" that's problematic really. I need ideas for exercise that I can do. I'm walking more these days, but it's really tiny teeny amounts. Any other brilliant ideas for exercise for a skint SAHM type building up from nothing post-illness?

Eating less I've done before, and it's worked. But then, it's also stopped working. Like most fat birds I know all about food, calories, different types of diets etc. I'm going to return to the basic calorie counting method, but trying to add in some exercise. I live with the world's fussiest eater and he's been cooking most nights since 2004. He will continue to live off cook-chill pies and sausages whatever I do, so I can't eliminate all high fat foods from the house or anything which might be a problem.

Tomorrow, No1 son and I are walking into town to buy some bathroom scales and a calorie guide ? and then it starts. I haven't weighed myself for years, and haven't been weighed since I was heavily pregnant. It's not going to be pretty.

Mate, I feel your pain. I could have written your post back in January and it's taken some enormous leaps of faith and some good hard smacks around the head (self-administered) but I'm getting there. Stick with the walking. Aim for 10 mins... then 15... then 30... and so on... before long an hour will feel like... a walk in the park?

What Lumpy said. Walking is so underrated as a form of exercise but a really brisk half hour walk burns loads of calories, is low impact and helps you get some fresh air. If you've got a fair amount to lose, I wouldn't worry at this stage about hammering the gym. If you can spare a tenner or so, a cheap heart rate monitor will tell you if you're walking fast enough.

I think walking is the best thing for me. I'm going to load up the MP3 with really long talking books to try to stave off boredom and push the baybeh around the pavements of Bicester all summer. I managed to walk 2 miles, one of them uphill, the other week which isn't bad for me given that at one point I couldn't get round Tesco sans wheelchair.

First walk is into town to buy bathroom scales ? No1 son has decided he is going to try to shift a bit of flab and tone up after trying on a vest top and saying ruefully "it's nice but I look like the only gay in the village" ?

Walking is fab, and it will be a lovely way for you to get some "me time" as well.

My top tip - which I think is central to the success of ELMM and therefore any diet as this is the only one that ever actually works - is this: don't get hungry.

It might sound like a stupid thing to say, but if you rely on will-power you will fail, so you have to remove will-power from the equation and ensure that if you are hungry, it's because your body needs food and you can make a sensible choice about what to eat. This means avoiding emotional hunger, avoiding crashing blood sugar and avoiding eating when you aren't hungry. Practically, I find knowledge of GI really helpful here, and a modified low-carb approach - lean protein really is the best thing for filling you up. I've also found eating AT LEAST five portions of F&V a day helpful - I graze on fruit throughout the morning and it stops me getting hungry and helps me get to 5 a day.

That ended up really long-winded - sorry ? I have to say though, I'm feeling really on top of my body image for the first time in ages, and really happy about the way I'm eating. ELMM (DC) rocks. ?

Thanks, Sophie. I'll look up the GI stuff, it sounds helpful.

Hi Princess Layabout,

I'm pretty much the same, whether its just that time of year or what but I have resolved to give myself a proper kickstart with some weightloss! I haven't really spoken much to people on here yet so i thought I would be sociable and start to get to know folk :-D

I haven't weight myself yet either for lack of scales, but dreading buying mine this weekend. I'm trying to find some sort of exercise that I'm not going to get bored with easilly. I walk up and down dale all day for most part of my job, but I think walking for pleasure at the weekends could be a definate goer!

Anyhoo, good luck with your health kick x

And you, Blossy!

Mother of God, I just stood on the scales ?

I know that feeling all to well.. x

I've just had a good old self loathing cry after coming back from a shopping trip (bless MrRache he thought he was giving me a treat by taking the boys off my hands while I shopped for new work clothes). I can't even tell you out loud what dress size I am now because that would mean admitting it to myself and because I'm so ashamed of letting myself get into this state. Even more, it was M&S, renowned for their "generous" sizing. I overheard one conversation in the changing rooms about how much bigger sizes are nowadays, and another where one woman kept having to get things sent back because she thought she was a 12 but these clothes are just hanging off her.

I just want to crawl into a hole, tbh.

Hiya PL. I used to feel the same way, it's very depressing. I too am a skint SAHM. I followed ww and bought billy blanks tae bo 3. They sell it on amazon from about £3.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-8168022-9036413?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=billy+blanks+tae+bo+vol+3&x=0&y=0

I don't drive so I walk everywhere. Walking is the key I believe. I have started to run, but didn't do this until after I got to goal.

If you're like me and have time when you can't get out of the house for what ever reason, you can easily move more around the house. Put some music on and really go for it with cleaning for an hour. You'll burn loads of calories. Also walk/ run up and down the stairs. I've always got something to take up there so I purposely do it in loads of trips. This way if it means splitting up a small pile of clean clothes to go away, I will. I'll go up and down 7-8 times in a row carrying things.

How old is your child/ren? I put music on and dance with my daughter. She loves it.

Good luck with your weight loss. Please remember it does take time, but if it means you lose 1lb a week, that's 52lbs a year!

Aww, Rache ?

I know exactly how you feel. I haven't even been clothes shopping for months, despite having chucked most of my clothes out in a fit of self loathing ?

My huge unwieldy norks have rendered me a size 18/20 on top, and my bum is fast catching up. And I'm only 5'2" as you know, so I'm pretty much as broad as I am long ? I weigh more than I did at 42 weeks pregnant with Isaac. I weigh a good 3 stone more than I did when I was 42 weeks pregnant with No1 son [howls, beats floor with fists]

So there! ?

I feel for you Rache - I had a similar moment in Fat Face, which is generous in its sizes and suddenly I found XXL was on the tight side of small. Likewise I didn't realise how big I'd got until I got on the scales - I was deluding myself in the Rik Waller school of 'I'm 20 stone, honest' until I realised I was 3 stone heavier than that.

Hope you find the motivation to get things sorted.

I nearly couldn't stand on the scales yesterday, until I realised that knowing how much I weigh doesn't actually change anything. I'm the same size whether I know what I weigh or not. And everyone else knows I'm fat ? I think that was a big thing. Going to buy scales, calorie guide etc was difficult until I framed it as "yes I'm fat, yes I'm doing something about it" rather than "they'll think I'm fat"

It did amuse me that Mr Layabout categorically refused to pay for the calorie guide and the Men's Health mag I'd got for No1 son in case anyone thought they were for him...

Funny how your mind plays tricks. Knowledge is power, step on those scales Rache. I've been in denial for so long, but it's taken some health issues to make me face up to this - dicey liver function tests and my knee and ankle joints are going west. Obviously I'm a physical disaster zone as it is, but this poxy ME has ruled my life for four years and I'm going to get better now. I'm bored of being a raspberry ? So, moving more it is even if my version of "move more" is sedentry by anyone else's standards.

?PL & bgb - you're very lovely.

I weighed myself a couple of weeks ago and was shocked but not suprised IYSWIM, but I've been on a mission to self destruct since then - rounds of buttery toast for breakfast, cake for lunch, pasta for dinner, wine and chocolate for second dinner, that sort of thing. I don't even enjoy it; it's just some weird way of punishing myself. I wish people had more sympathy (heck, I wish I had more sympathy!) for this sort of compulsive eating - it's not normal. I'm killing myself slowly.

MrRache is also lovely and tells me he'll support whatever I think is right to start moving in the right direction. I'm not sure where I'm going but I'm damn close to rock bottom. I look at myself and I look like me in a fat suit. I was a size 8-10 five years ago. What happened?

Sorry for hijacking your thread PL. It sounds like you're in a good frame of mind. I'm nearly there with you; I'll give you a hout when it happens.

Rache, I have so been where you are ?

Eating hot buttered toast despite having to force every mouthful down, feeling sick and uncomfortable yet still eating. Perhaps the reason that I'm ready to look at my eating again now is that I've been able to decouple it from emotions in the last few years. Until quite recently, I was either overeating as you describe, or fanatically dieting, using laxatives [sings "ring of fire"] and self-harming like billy-oh. Not good. As soon as I stopped eating I found myself overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness, hopelessness etc.

I've been frightened to "diet" in recent years because I don't want those feelings back. But now I'm looking on it as a positive thing rather than deprivation/punishment. I don't know how though ? sorry, no magic bullet. I DO think the CBT I'm having for the ME has helped with my mindset for everything. Exactly as you describe on Foxy's thread over there --->, about being accepting of yourself, bending with the wind rather than fighting yourself in every aspect.

You know where I am, lovely. ?

Gah, your posts make me sad and comfort me all at the same time. I'm so sorry you feel wretched, Rache and PL, but it's kind of nice to know that the feelings I've had about myself and my body aren't unique to me. I've done okay hthis year but in the bcack of my mind there's a fear that I'll yo-yo forever - I love the feeling of being less heavy and I love it when people say 'wow, you look soooo much better' but I also have times when I want to empty the fridge and eat EVERYTHING. Even while I'm eating stuff I know I shouldn't eat I'm thinking 'why am I doing this' but it's sometimes an urge I can't control.?

Welcome to the emo-heifer club, Lumpy ?

How exciting...the birth of a new kleek!?

I am such an emo-heifer it's untrue. ?

I did my usual smash and grab routine at the supermarket earlier - went in to buy milk and yoghurt, came out with milk, yoghurt, Haagen Dazs, Gu chocolate trifles, a smoothie and a box of continental biscuits (I have now eaten the whole box and feel sick and disgusting).

Saturdays are particularly bad for me because if Mr Foo is working and I'm home alone with the baby for some reason think I need to 'treat myself' - but he works 3 Saturdays out of four...

So anyway, my initial goal is get firmly within the healthy range BMI for my height, starting with 6lb off in July. Starting Monday obviously, I've got a tub of Pralines and Cream to get through first.

I just wish I looked that good.??

<salutes> emo-heifer reporting for duty, SIR!

Not sure how much room is left for emo-heifer's in this kleek but if there's enough room for a rapidly expanding arse/belly, hell even my wrists have put on weight, please could I join? I also have periods of self destructing self loathing where I eat 2 magnums at a time or I buy fruit and veg galore at the supermarket and then sit in the carpark eating a cream cake.... what the heck is that about?

I do practically no moving at all during the course of my day which is totally unacceptable, however I now have over 200 songs on my MP3 and am determined to walk this butt off. Think I might do better with moral support though, so may I join please?

Room for all in this field kleek, Copper.

ELMM started officially this morning chez Layabout. It's not going too well so far as I bought Oatibix to have for breakfast and it's beyond disgusting. ?

So, back to the drawing board with breakfast...

Oh dear PL! I've not tried the oatabix. I quite like no added sugar muesli to which I add fresh blueberries or raspberries/blackberries. I'm not sure if muesli is that food though, nuts = fattening yes?

I think muesli is generally pretty calorific. I can't eat wheat, which cuts options down a bit, hence oatibix [vomit]

I've told Mr Layabout he can take it to work to build walls with...

I'm not a fan of cereal, but I do enjoy a bowl of porridge. I make it with skimmed milk and a handful of sultanas, a pinch of mixed spics and a big spoon of artificial sweetner. (Bring on the chemicals ?)

I wish I liked porridge ? I'm not a fussy eater on the whole, but porridge and rice pudding are the two things I draw the line at.

OK, it's five hours into the diet and already I want to curl up and die ? I've got a headache and the shakes and I'm nearly crying over nothing. Got to love it...

I think it's called cold turkey mate - just don't eat the skin.

This probably isn't the most healthy thing in the world 'cos it's salty, but when I'm craving food and trying to avoid it a cup of bovril sometimes does the trick; worth a try?

Turkey ?

I'm feeling a bit less grim post lunch. I think we've all got some kind of stomach bug so it's not a great day to start (but we'll probably have lost shedloads of weight ?)